Coolify vs Dokploy in 2026: Resource Usage Tested on Identical VMs

Description and use

Coolify uses less idle RAM and disk than Dokploy, making it better suited for small VPS deployments.

Problem

Choosing a self‑hosted PaaS with minimal idle resource footprint and manageable disk usage.

Outcome

Coolify has a lighter idle footprint (≈460–520 MiB container RAM, +3.0 GB disk) and leaves more room for user apps on a 2 GB VPS, while Dokploy consumes more RAM (≈831 MiB) and disk (+5.0 GB) due to a larger Node/Next.js image.

Workflow

• 1. Provision two identical Ubuntu 24.04 VMs (2 vCPUs, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB disk).
• 2. Run official installers: curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash and curl -sSL https://dokploy.com/install.sh | sh.
• 3. Wait for all containers to report healthy.
• 4. Capture three docker stats samples 15–20 s apart, plus free -m, df, and docker system df.
• 5. Record container RAM usage, whole‑VM RAM, and disk added by the installer.
• 6. Compare results and analyze architectural differences (Compose vs Swarm).

Evidence

Coolify 4.4.6 idled at about 460–520 MiB of container RAM and added 3.0 GB of disk.

Source

Dokploy 0.30.8 idled at about 831 MiB and added 5.0 GB, mostly from one 3.25 GB image.

Source

Both installers were run with curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash and curl -sSL https://dokploy.com/install.sh | sh exactly as their docs say.

Source

Coolify runs as plain Docker containers managed with Compose; Dokploy runs Docker Swarm services.

Source